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A Deeper Deep Listening: Doing Pre-Ethics Fieldwork in Aotearoa New Zealand

Indigenous Research Ethics: Claiming Research Sovereignty Beyond Deficit and the Colonial Legacy

ISBN: 978-1-78769-390-6, eISBN: 978-1-78769-389-0

Publication date: 19 October 2020

Abstract

This chapter looks at what it means to set out to do anthropological research with tangata whenua (New Zealanders of Māori descent; literally, ‘people of the land’), from the particular perspective of a Pākehā (New Zealander of non-Māori descent – usually European) musical anthropologist with an interest in sound-made worlds. In late 2017, Lowe was awarded funding for a conjoint PhD scholarship in anthropology at James Cook University, Australia, and Aarhus University, Denmark. However, following advice from several colleagues in Aotearoa New Zealand, Lowe decided to assess the viability of the project with his prospective Māori and non-Māori collaborators prior to officially starting his PhD candidature. Throughout this process of pre-ethics (Barrett, 2016), Lowe met with both Māori and non-Māori to discuss the proposed PhD project; a ‘listening in’ to his own socio-historical positioning as a Pākehā anthropologist within contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand. This approach to anthropological research is in response to George (2017), who argues for a new politically and ethnically aware mode of anthropology that aims to (re)establish relationships of true meaning between anthropology and Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Sebastian Lowe – I owe thanks to the following people for their ongoing support and guidance throughout and beyond the pre-ethics period. These include Wiremu Puke (Ngāti Wairere, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), Dr Lily George (Te Kapōtai/Ngāpuhi nui tonu), Families Lowe and Lane, Associate Professor Jennifer Deger, Professor Ton Otto, Associate Professor Christian Suhr, Victoria Baskin Coffey, Elise Goodge, Dr Cherryl Waerea-i-te-rangi Smith (Ngā Wairiki/Ngāti Apa, Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tahu), Alistair Fraser, Simon Eastwood, Dr Aroha Yates-Smith (Te Arawa, Tainui, Mātaatua, Horouta, Takitimu), Dr Jeremy Mayall, Dr Marama Muru-Lanning (Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto), Russell Shaw, Dr Michael Goldsmith, participants and organisers at Te Rarawa ‘Hui Taiao – Te Ao Tūroa’ (third national Māori conservation hui), hosts, participants and SCANZ organisers at the hui, ‘Peace, Water, Power – He Punawai Hohourongo’ at Parihaka, Lynda Green (I thank her for her generosity and wish to acknowledge her memory), Aaria Dobson-Waitere (Ngā Raurukiitahi, Ngā Ruahinerangi), Dr Fiona E. McCormack, Professor Martin Lodge, Jacinta Forde, Michelle O’Toole, Dr Ruth Gibbons, Professor Toon van Meijl and Professor Dame Anne Salmond.

Citation

Lowe, S.J., George, L. and Deger, J. (2020), "A Deeper Deep Listening: Doing Pre-Ethics Fieldwork in Aotearoa New Zealand", George, L., Tauri, J. and MacDonald, L.T.A.o.T. (Ed.) Indigenous Research Ethics: Claiming Research Sovereignty Beyond Deficit and the Colonial Legacy (Advances in Research Ethics and Integrity, Vol. 6), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 275-291. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2398-601820200000006019

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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